About Paul Paray
Paul Marie-Adolphe Charles Paray (French: [pɔl paʁɛ]; 24 May 1886 – 10 October 1979) was a French conductor, organist and composer. After winning France's top musical award, the Prix de Rome, he fought in the First World War and was a prisoner of war for nearly four years. He held a succession of chief conductorships, including those of the Lamoureux and Colonne Orchestras in Paris and the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra in Monaco. For ten years from 1952 he was chief conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, with which he made a celebrated series of recordings for Mercury Records' "Living Presence" series, many of which have been digitally released in the 21st century. == Life and career == === Early years === Paul Paray was born in Le Tréport, Normandy, on 10 October 1886, the second son and youngest of three children of Auguste Paray and his wife Hortense née Picard. Auguste's principal occupation was as an ivory sculptor, but he was also a working musician – organist of the church of Saint-Jacques au Tréport and musical director of the town’s municipal band and theatre. He gave his three children their first music lessons. Both sons sang in the choir of Rouen Cathedral, for which, aged fourteen, Paray composed his first Magnificat, which his biographer David Patmore writes has remained in the choir's repertoire ever since. With the help of Henri Dallier, organist of La Madeleine, Paris, Paray entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1904, where he studied harmony with Xavier Leroux and counterpoint and composition with Georges Caussade. He also studied with Charles Lenepveu and Paul Vidal.
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